I’m the president of TU. It is automatic for a NMSF. If you want to write me off-line at brad-carson@utulsa.edu, I will make sure this is clear.
Hello all,
My son nmsf is interested in usf. He is planning on staying home with us. Does Benaquisto/ usf scholarship still pay for living expenses? Or does it penalize him for not staying on campus.
Thanks in advance for all useful information.
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Does IU offer merit scholarship to NMSF?
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Your son would have the amount of money that he is not paying for room and board deposited in his checking account. Simplified, USF would take the Benacquisto $ and pay his USF charges and fees and then deposit the rest each semester into his checking account. Assuming he has no meal plan, the total amount would be quite substantial. (thousands of $ per semester)
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Thanks
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Says a lot about TU that the prez is responding to things like this. Thanks for standing out among the schools!
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TU has definitely been the most active in mailing materials promoting their National Merit scholarship for my son – which does leave the positive impression of, wow, they really would love to have him. Lots of emails to the parents too. Even though my son has applied to UCF, I don’t think he’s gotten a single mail piece about their National Merit scholarship, and I don’t see any email from them either other than one responding to a question. (With a limit of 40 OOS, maybe they feel they don’t need the marketing.) A single mailer I think from UT-Dallas, Alabama, Oklahoma, maybe USF, a couple schools with smaller scholarships. Oklahoma State is the only other one that’s been pretty active about it mailing-wise.
Tulsa averaging over 70 National Merit Scholars per year in the late aughts – around 10 percent of their incoming class! – but then dropped all the way to single digits in 2020. Really curious how many they’ll get this year.
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I bet a lot, now that they are guaranteeing it for admitted NMSs. And 10%, that is a lot! Nice to get a critical mass of high stats kids all in 1 place.
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For 2020, here’s the top ten schools in percentage in NM Scholars in the upcoming class (excluding any Deep Springs-esque colleges with minuscule incoming classes). If they get near 10 percent again, it’d put Tulsa in pretty nice company.
| College | NMS |
|---|---|
| Harvey Mudd | 18.6% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 13.7% |
| University of Chicago | 12.8% |
| Vanderbilt University | 12.0% |
| Harvard University | 10.2% |
| Northwestern University | 10.2% |
| California Institute of Technology | 10.1% |
| Yale University | 10.0% |
| Stanford University | 9.0% |
| Princeton University | 8.1% |
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Yes, but sort of deceiving. Many of the schools on this list don’t sponsor school-based National Merit scholarships. Therefore when they admit National Merit finalists, these students don’t become National Merit Scholars, unless they happen to have received a National Merit Scholarship from a private company (e.g. workplace) or from the National Merit Corporation themselves. This last category, in particular, is relatively rare and only awarded to the tippy top National Merit Finalists.
In other words, a school like Harvard has 10% National Merit Scholar, but also has another ~10-15% of its students who are National Merit Finalists, and who would have been National Merit Scholars if only Harvard would sponsor them.
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I know you marked this as the wrong discussion, but since I see it here I will answer you here. I was an alternate entry NMS recipient last year, and this is exactly how they calculate my score (they capped all of my scores at 38, then multiplied by 2, just like you did). You have the correct score calculation, and with that score (a 224), you’re pretty much guaranteed to make Semifinalist, so congrats!
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Would a student be a National Merit Scholar if going to Fordham?
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Thank you so much! I have one other question about alternate entry as this is all new to us. My DD22 was a NMF, but even in the crazy C19 year, she qualified through the PSAT (very familiar with that process). Do alternate entry qualifiers need a confirming SAT score? If not, my son is done with standardized testing. If so, we need to schedule him for another sitting. I had planned to call NMSC to ask after the new year, but if you know, that would be great. Thank you, and congratulations to you!
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Assuming Fordham offered you their national merit scholarship when you were admitted, and that you make the finalist cut in March with the National Merit org, then yes.
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Yes, as long as when they admitted you they indicated they were offering you the National Merit semifinalist Recognition scholarship (the full tuition scholarship, website says 71% of NMSFs who apply were offered this in years past) and your student does indeed move up from NMSF to NMF. If this is the case any National Merit Finalist who goes to Fordham becomes a National Merit Scholar, because Fordham gives all of them National Merit scholarships upon attending.
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As of the class on 2022, those who qualified through alternate entry did NOT need a separate confirmation score (i.e. they could use the same SAT sitting for both the alternate entry score and for the confirmation score.) That said, it is never a terrible idea to call and check to make sure rules haven’t changed. The National Merit people are very helpful, pleasant, and you don’t spend much time on hold.
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I don’t think this last part is true. Fordham offers some NMF’s the merit aid, but not all. They quoted 71% for semifinalists and above in the past, but it’s doubtful they are maintaining that percentage this year. According to their admissions office, if they didn’t offer it at the time of the acceptance offer, they won’t later whether a student becomes a finalist or not.
If the original poster was offered aid with their acceptance already, they will be good as long as they make finalist (which is statistically highly probable).
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This is great. She did get the full tuition for NMSF and stands a great chance of being named Finalist.
My husband worries that the Bronx isn’t safe. 
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Thank you for this clarification. It’s a good point that things may have changed, as they have a new president this year.
Parents of students at the Bronx campus tell me that worries about safety are overblown. The RH campus is gated with excellent security, and the surrounding blocks where many upperclassmen rent apartments are also safe. Also the nearby Arthur Ave has a ton of great restaurants (Little Italy) and is safe. Some parents say they don’t think the regular subway is the safest, and discourage their kids from taking it into Manhattan. But there are 2 other options: the Ram Van shuttle, and Metro North commuter train, which is different from the regular public subway. The Metro North apparently has a conductor and is very clean, safe and also faster than the subway and has a stop right outside of the gates of Rose Hill. My own kid goes to the LC campus, so isn’t at RH often, but if he were, I would not be worried.